McCORMICK'S QUICK TAKES.

?? The End of the Affair (Columbia Pictures, 1999). As in so many of Graham Greene's best stories, Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) is a man on the edge of betrayal, and the Judas kiss he is about to deliver is, he believes, in payment for the most devastating sort of treason--a shattered heart.

In Neil Jordan's version of Greene's postwar tale about the aftermath of passion, old allies and opponents have changed sides, and an embittered but still mesmerized Fiennes now finds himself collaborating with the husband (Stephen Rea) of his former lover (Julianne Moore).

Still, in a film that is as erotic, unsettling, and luscious as The English Patient betrayal is not as simple--nor vengeance as satisfying-as Fiennes might believe. Unlike so many films out these days, this is a story for grown-ups, a seductive and disturbing tale that sweeps us into the ecstasy of passion and then tosses us about in the under tow of our fragile and divided loyalties, leaving us wondering just where love, or faith, might be. * * * *

?? Angela's Ashes (Paramount 1999). There is a great deal more Frank Capra than Upton Sinclair in Frank McCourt's achingly sweet and riotously funny childhood memoir about growing up in a poverty that punishes but never destroys. Alan Parker's gorgeous film version tells an almost whimsical tale about the trials and tribulations of Irish sprites surviving the economic and emotional deprivations of that deeply dysfunctional sort of family that always seems to produce the most marvelous drunks and storytellers.

If the sharp edges of this story about poverty have been softened with an Irish lilt there is enough pathos and sentiment to fill a couple of hankies--and enough sweetness to admire the storyteller's courage and compassion. * * * 1/2

?? The Talented Mr. Ripley (Miramax, 1999). Believe it or not, Mr. Ripley (Matt Damon) is not the only person flexing his obvious talents in Anthony Minghella's exquisitely disturbing film version of Patricia Highsmith's thriller about a young man who decides to "get a life." This time out, Mr. Damon--who is accustomed to playing very smart young men--introduces us to a character with a decidedly darker genius. In this eerily Hitchcockian version of A Room with a View, the talented and ultimately homicidal Mr. Ripley is sent to Italy to retrieve the playboy son of a wealthy American family but decides to take another prize instead.

Both Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow are excellent as Ripley's enchanting and ill-fated playmates, and the story is one that will give pause to anyone thinking of striking up an acquaintance while "on holiday." * * * 1/2

?? Eyes Wide Shut (Warner Brothers, 1999). Stanley Kubrick made a living offering up flesh, often disturbing visions of our world. In films that tended to make their points through a mix of rigid control and nearly exploitative excess, he looked into the darker crevices of our obsessions--obsessions with everything from technology (2001) to violence (A Clockwork Orange).

In this, his last work Kubrick's attention has been turned to the desperate violence he finds lurking beneath the intimacy and isolation of our shared beds. By bringing Arthur Schnitzler's Dream Novel to the screen, Kubrick has created something of a purgatorial odyssey about obsession and jealousy, one that immerses the audience in the deeply upsetting agonies of appetites gone awry-and in the loneliness they seek to mask. Definitely not for everyone, this last effort is a sexual tale that reveals Kubrick's talent for asking the unaskable, and doing so without blinking. * * * 1/2